The Southern Agenda: Aug/Sept 2012

’Cue Recruits
Castle Hayne, North Carolina, September 28–29
Ten-hut, you barbecue grunts! When the North Carolina Barbecue Society Boot Camp and Judging School in Castle Hayne (September 28–29) is done with you, you will be not-so-lean, mean, slow-cooking machines. You will learn the secrets of North Carolina–style whole hog, shoulder, and ribs from battle-seasoned pitmasters such as Steve Grady of Grady’s BBQ and Little Red Pig competition team leader Bill Eason. You will climb mountains of collards, baked beans, and banana pudding. And by the closing ceremony, you 
will be prepared to storm your next
cookout and be commissioned as an NCBS Certified Barbecue Judge. ncbbqsociety.com/events

Alabama
THE NEXT COURSE

It’s not often you come across a formerly decrepit downtown city block where sixty varieties of produce grow and schoolchildren learn hands-on lessons about healthy food. But the Jones Valley Teaching Farm, in Birmingham, is no ordinary endeavor, and its annual Urban Harvest Twilight Supper fund-raiser (September 27) offers a chance for community members to get in on the edible action. This year, Highlands Bar & Grill teams up with the chefs of the Fatback Collective, including Mississippi chef John Currence and South Carolina pitmaster Rodney Scott, to prepare the farm-to-table feast, where diners break bread amid the farm’s bountiful crops. On the menu: fresh Alabama seafood, grass-fed beef from Will Harris's White Oak Pastures, and Jones Valley vegetables. It’s a good thing the table is 120 feet long. jonesvalleyteachingfarm.org


Arkansas
CHAIN GANG

At 4,226 linear feet, Little Rock’s Big Dam Bridge claims to be the longest cycling and pedestrian bridge in the world (and, yes, that is its actual, city-appointed name). On September 29, this scenic span high over the Arkansas River will double as both the starting and finish lines of the annual Big Dam Bridge 100, an event that attracts thousands of Lycra-clad cyclists. Hardcore types pedal the full hundred miles, but if you’re just not that into helmet hair, choose a fifteen-, twenty-five-, fifty-, or sixty-two-mile course and coast into the after-party while there’s still some Gatorade left to be spiked. thebigdambridge100.com


Florida
NET WORK

With their bold stripes and radial fins, exotic lionfish are the stars of any aquarium. But wild in the Atlantic, the invasive species gobbles up juvenile snapper and crabs and has no natural predators. So it’s up to the fishing teams competing in the Palm Beach Lionfish Derby and Rodeo (August 17–18) to hook, net, or spear as many of the interlopers as they can. Fortunately for anglers and spectators, lionfish also make for damn good eating once their poisonous spines are removed. Half the catch is cooked up for tasting, at the weigh-in and at the evening banquet. The other half is reserved for scientific study. lionfishderby.com